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Each of the three times since 2021 that the Penn College men's golf teams have competed in the NCAA Division III Championship, their scores have improved.
Coach Rob Lytle is hopeful of more of the same next week when his Wildcats are on the national stage for the third year in a row.
In 2021, under then-coach Matt Haile, the Wildcats shot a two-day 667 total to finish 34th of 37 teams. Two years ago, under Lytle, Penn College players combined for a 630 to end 37th of 43 teams, and last season, again under Lytle, they recorded a 609 and were 29th in a 43-team field.
Penn College earned its trip to nationals as an automatic qualifier by winning the United East Conference Championship on April 26. By the time they get to the Rochester, New York, area for practice rounds on Sunday and Monday, they will have gone roughly three weeks without any collegiate competition. But that doesn't mean they have been sitting idle.
"We have two seniors (Peyton Mussina of Montoursville and Will Orwig) who want to play good, and we've got (other) guys on the team (junior Gunner Redmond of Lock Haven, and sophomores Brady Handy of Huntingdon and Logan Gawlinski of Kittanning) who want to play good. That's their focus," Lytle said. "The weather has been challenging this week, but they're still working hard because they know that nationals are coming up.
"My team has played in some qualifier tournaments over the last week. They're still playing competitive golf outside of college golf. I have no doubt that my team will play up to their true potential once they get there."
Tournament play for 43 teams and 10 individuals not on one of those teams, 225 players in all, will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday at Cobblestone Creek Country Club in Victor, New York, and Midvale Country Club in Penfield, New York. Both par 72 courses, Cobblestone's championship course measures 6,866 yards long and Midvale's is 6,632 yards.
The Wildcats tackle Midvale starting at 12:50 p.m. on Tuesday, and play on Cobblestone starting at 8:35 a.m. on Wednesday.
After 36 holes of competition, the field will be cut to the top 18 teams and the top six individuals not on one of those teams. Ties for the cut will be broken by a sudden-death playoff or, if necessary, by the non-sudden-death tiebreaking procedures. A year ago, Mussina was one of those who advanced, and he went on to finish tied for 17th. As of May 11, he was ranked 38th among over 1,400 D-III players.
"I expect we will play better this year. The goal is to play better every year. We're going to go there, and the kids are going to play hard, as best they can. The expectation is to play well and see where we land," Lytle said.
Top-ranked Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina, claimed its 14th national title last season, beating out Carnegie Mellon for the program's second championship in three years. Methodist has the most titles in D-III men's golf history (its women's team also owns 14 national titles), and it has a Williamsport tie.
Bernie Krick was the head pro at Williamsport Country Club, the Wildcats' home course, from 1976-93, and his son, Mike, attended Methodist University from 1987-91 and played on its first national championship team in 1990.